The Pilot's Task
The pilot of an aircraft with positive longitudinal stability, whether it is a human pilot or an autopilot, has an easy task to fly the aircraft and maintain the desired pitch attitude which, in turn, makes it easy to control the speed, angle of attack and fuselage angle relative to the horizon. The pilot of an aircraft with negative longitudinal stability has a more difficult task to fly the aircraft. It will be necessary for the pilot devote more effort, make more frequent inputs to the elevator control, and make larger inputs, in an attempt to maintain the desired pitch attitude.
Most successful aircraft have positive longitudinal stability, providing the aircraft's center of gravity lies within the approved range. Some acrobatic and combat aircraft have low-positive or neutral stability to provide high maneuverability. Some advanced aircraft have a form of low-negative stability called relaxed stability to provide extra-high maneuverability.
Read more about this topic: Longitudinal Static Stability
Famous quotes containing the words pilot and/or task:
“The river knows the way to the sea;
Without a pilot it runs and falls,
Blessing all lands with its charity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“He who has a task to perform must know how to take sides, or he is quite unworthy of it.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)